Suspect bought car in OKC

OKLAHOMA CITY - A Saudi terrorism suspect accused of buying chemicals to build a bomb in Texas had at least one tie to the city: He bought a car here.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old former Texas Tech chemical engineering student living in Lubbock, was charged this week with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Aldawsari purchased chemicals and other materials capable of producing a powerful bomb and wrote memos and sent e-mails to himself that suggested a number of possible targets, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent.

Aldawsari bought a 2006 Hyundai Sonata in Oklahoma City and registered it on Oct. 5, 2009, the affidavit said. It referenced a blog entry in which Aldawsari described the hassles he experienced in making the purchase.

The Amarillo Globe-News found a Sept. 20, 2009, blog entry that appears to be Aldawsari's description of his car purchase the day before.

The blog entry indicates Aldawsari ran into difficulties because he didn't arrive in Oklahoma City until Saturday afternoon and the branches of his bank were closed.

"I went to ATM and I got the maximum withdraw for one day $1,500," the blog states.

It goes on to indicate he paid the unidentified car dealer the $1,500, promised to pay the remaining $5,500 when he got back to Lubbock, and gave the dealer his passport to guarantee the deal.

It was unclear from the affidavit whether the vehicle was to be used as a car bomb. FBI agents reported finding a Jan. 12 e-mail containing "a simplified lesson on how to booby-trap a vehicle." However, they also reported Aldawsari conducted Internet research on Feb. 19 concerning whether a person could take a backpack into a nightclub, and had researched the possibility of concealing explosives inside a realistic-looking doll.

Clay Simmonds, spokesman for the Oklahoma City FBI office, confirmed Friday that local agents had followed up on some leads concerning the car purchase at the request of Texas FBI agents, but referred further questions to the Dallas FBI office.

Mark White, spokesman for the FBI's Dallas office, declined to say what dealership sold Aldawsari the vehicle, saying he would not release any investigative information beyond what was in the arrest warrant affidavit.

"We have no indication that anyone else is involved at this point," White said. "Of course, our investigation continues, because we want to make sure. We're not cutting out any possibilities, but at this point we have not found any indication that he's got any associates or he's associated with any terrorist groups. We just haven't seen that yet. But we continue to look. We want to make sure."